I am a PhD scientist specializing in gene therapy, immunology, and cancer biology. As a postdoc with Dr. Phillip Tai and Dr. Guangping Gao, I am currently wrapping up an in vivo project, in collaboration with the biotech company AAVnerGene to investigate AAV efficacy in addition to investigating vector integration and immunomodulatory sequences.Supplementing my AAV gene therapy expertise, I possess 3 years of CAR T-cell training with Dr. Carl June as well as 8 years of graduate school training in small molecule oncology therapeutics, cancer biology, and T cell immunology. My PhD research focused on the pathobiology and targeted therapy of pediatric T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL), a challenging and aggressive pediatric leukemia. I evaluated small molecule kinase inhibitors (6) for repurposing against leukemia and targeting the MAP2K7 kinase, advancing 2 inhibitors to in vitro, in vivo, and ex vivo evaluation, including mechanisms of action studies (1st author Oncotarget 2021 and 2nd author Blood Advances 2023). I collaborated with the Center for Drug Discovery at Baylor College of Medicine to screen 10 novel MAP2K7 inhibitor compounds for biochemical inhibitory activity. Prior to graduate school, I also gained valuable experience in CAR T-cell therapy under the mentorship of Dr. Carl June at the University of Pennsylvania, where I specialized specialized in CAR T-cell design, production, co-culture, cytotoxicity, cytokine production (multi-parameter flow cytometry and ELISA). Additionally, I made critical early phase contributions to the research team evaluating 13 humanized EGFRvIII (middle author, Sci Transl Med 2015) including: plasmid preparation, lentiviral production, T cell transduction, evaluation of expression, and immunoblots.I am highly motivated, self-driven, collaborative PhD scientist with a passion to do more to help patients. I have excellent written and verbal communication skills, as evidenced by my successful dissertation defense, multiple presentations at conferences and seminars, and multiple publications. I have demonstrated strong project management and problem-solving skills, as demonstrated by my ability to manage multiple concurrent research projects and solve a bioinformatic bottleneck that accelerated the project timeline by 12 months. I am eager to leverage my skills and expertise toward advancing drug discovery projects to improve patient lives.